Are you ready? I am.
Woke up. Fell out of bed.
Dragged a comb across my head.
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup.
And looking up I noticed...
it was 6:00 am.
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| The Fish Blanket has traveled a lot. |
Maybe it is not this way for everyone who moves to Ecuador (or stays for an extended period of time), but for us, waking up between 5:00 am - 6:00 am was an every day fact. No way around it. No matter how hard we tried. It did not matter that at 5:00 am the sun is not yet up over the horizon. It did not matter if we went to bed at 9:00 pm or midnight the night before.
Why is this happening? More importantly, when will it end? Will it end?
Do not get me wrong. Part of me enjoyed some of those extra morning hours. After all, we live in the land of 12/12. Twelve hours of daylight, twelve hours of night. Give or take about five minutes for that ever so slight axis rotation during the winter and summer equinox. But basically it is 12/12. Every day, 365 days a year. Although, this is leap year.
I will not discuss the Mayan and Inca Calendars, except to say that they utilized multiple calendars. The calendars had different purposes. An extra day was not added to February every four years. If you want to know more about those ancient calendars of South America, check out the links.
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| Coffee & Feliz Cumpleanos! |
I wake up between 6:00 am - 7:00 am now. I still comb my hair and go downstairs for a cup of coffee. Since we did not bring any of our kitchen items, I had to choose a new favorite coffee cup from the seven mugs that were provided in our new home. Admit it. You know what I am talking about. Every coffee drinker has a favorite coffee mug.
If something happens to it, we mourn the loss, then choose a new favorite. Sometimes that requires a purchase. Sometimes a friend or family member will get you a new mug. It will be perfect. How did they know. I do not know, but they did. All is right again.
My choices were;
red mug with the word "Nescafe"
white mug with a bank logo
white mug with Christmas tree and the word "Twinkle"
white mug with a green logo "bcM" ??
yellow mug with the word "Riunite"
blue mug with the word "Royal"
white mug with "Feliz Cumpleanos" in bright colors
Right off the bat we can eliminate the red mug, yellow mug and the blue mug. The mug can be any color on the outside, but the inside of the mug has to be white. I do not know why. It just looks funny. Bank logo mug - out. No explanation needed. I do not know what "bcM" means - out goes that mug. I am left with Twinkle or Feliz. I did not come all the way to Ecuador to drink out of a coffee cup with the English word Twinkle. The winner is Feliz Cumpleanos. Which means Happy Birthday. Why not?!
This coffee cup ritual only applies to me. Jason does not care what the mug looks like.
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| Bus to Portoviejo |
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| No chip? No cash for you. |
There are no banks in Crucita. There is only one ATM machine. If your debit/credit card does not have a security chip in it, then your card will not work at this ATM. Do not fear. There are plenty of banks and ATM machines in Portoviejo. Some require chips, some do not.
If we do not need anything at all, even better. But weekly grocery shopping does not seem to be the way it is done here. I do not mind a daily trip to a tienda. It is a good way for us to meet the store owners and their families. Tiendas are family owned and operated. In most cases their homes are next to, or above the store. They are starting to get to know us. We practice our Spanish. They appreciate the effort.
We are surrounded by farms.
The fruits and vegetables are fresh, plentiful and inexpensive. Rice and potatoes are grown locally too. We buy what we want, when we need it, right here in Crucita. You can go to one of the grocery stores in Portoviejo and the fruits and vegetables are just as fresh and plentiful, but a little more expensive. Organic is less expensive than non-organic. There are some imported fruits and vegetables in the supermarkets. Very expensive!
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| Extra Large Eggs |
We buy fresh eggs from the tiendas. Poultry, pork and beef are still sort of a mystery. Not for me since I do not eat meat but Jason does. So until we figure out where the local butcher is, we have to go to Portoviejo.
Cat food, cat litter and various cat supplies (flea medication, litter box, toys) are best purchased in town. There are pet stores.
There is a pet store in El Paseo Shopping Mall. The Hipermarket has a good selection of cat food and cat litter, but no toys, no litter boxes, no flea medication.
Spices and fresh herbs - right here in Crucita. Flour, milk, baking powder, butter, raw sugar, refined sugar, confectioners sugar, cooking oil, olive oil, dried fruits, nuts. All available in the tiendas in Crucita.
But no one can tell me where the heck I can find Arm & Hammer Baking Soda! Any brand of baking soda will do. I made Christmas chocolate chip cookies. The recipe calls for baking soda. Sorry. No baking soda. Not here or there or anywhere. I substituted baking powder. It worked but not as well. I am not giving up though. I WILL find baking soda. Maybe.
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| Fresh Herbs |
We are not scared to try new things. Never have been. Never will be. That does not mean that I will not refuse to try something. For example, guinea pig. Lucky for me, I do not eat meat. I have a get out of jail free card.
Not so much on the coast, but in the mountain areas of Ecuador, people eat guinea pig. I cannot believe I am even writing about it. But it is a fact and part of some of the cultures, so there you go.
If you want to know more about it, look it up on the internet.
Makeup, shampoos, conditioners, nail polish, deodorant, soaps, cleaners, cleansers and stuff - all available in local tiendas. However, there is a better selection at the supermarkets in town. Where is "town"? Portoviejo. You remembered!
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| Lockers for your stuff. |
Go to El Centro to be exact. A lot more to choose from. Better prices. In El Centro, do not forget to bargain a little on the pricing. It is expected. Also, it is a good idea to bring a shopping bag. The vendors will give you little bags for your purchases most of the time, but after a while you end up with a dozen or so little plastic bags. Save yourself some aggravation and bring one or two reusable shopping bags.
We were in El Centro a few days ago and had duplicate sets of keys made for our house. There are about six street vendors who make keys. Anyway, the man who made the copies did not give us a bag. Somehow we managed to lose a couple of the copies.
Not a big deal. Just means another trip to El Centro.
Probably tomorrow since we need to check our post office (Correos) box, which is just around the corner from El Centro.
Here is another little culture tidbit. If you go into a supermarket or mall store with bags of things you have already bought, you will have to put them in a locker. The lockers are located in the front of the stores. There are keys attached to security fobs, hanging out of the locks. Simply choose a locker (there are various sizes), put in your stuff, lock the door and take the key with you. This is a free service, and it is MANDATORY. When you get done shopping, just go to your locker and retrieve your items. Do not forget to leave the key, otherwise you will set off the alarm when you leave the store.
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| Keys made in El Centro |
You must ask for the items you need. The brand names are not always the same. The common names are not always the same. Take the time to look up on the internet how to ask for what you need in Spanish, AND the brand name in Ecuador.
If you are buying something that has a quantity (tablets, capsules, packets, etc), the clerk will ask you how many you want. Whole boxes are rarely sold. You can buy just one aspirin if that is what you need.
Not all prescription medications are readily available in all pharmacies. They are all available in hospitals.
If you are on a life dependent medication, bring enough of your prescription with you, along with a letter from your physician. Translate that letter into Spanish and have it notarized. This will make it easier should you need to see a physician while you are here.
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| Pharmacy = Farmacia |
That being said, the health care system is set up to meet the needs of everyone here, regardless of your financial situation. Regardless of whether you are a tourist, a citizen or here on a resident visa.
Many prescription medications do not require a local prescription. There are prescription drug programs so that everyone has access to medications needed. They are monitored to ensure the health of the patient and to prevent life threatening reactions from multiple medications.
The people who are very poor pay a few dollars a month (or in some cases nothing) for continuous healthcare. One thing to keep in mind. Narcotic pain medications are only used in extreme situations, and dispensed for the most part in hospitals or under strict supervision of a physician. Very few brands of prescription pain (narcotic) medications are available in Ecuador. Aspirin, Acetaminophen and anti-inflammatory medications are available.
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| Post Office |
Prior to arriving here, I met with my surgeon and my physician. I am not due for check-ups until later this year. I knew I would need time to find comparable specialists here in Ecuador.
I will continue to see my doctors when I am in the U.S. as well. That one prescription I mentioned cost me almost $100 per month in the U.S. without insurance.
The same prescription costs me $13 per month here - without insurance.
We are planning a trip to the town of Monticristi. From what I hear, it is a beautiful little town.
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| Comfortable for Kodak |
But we have a specific purpose for going there. Furniture. A wicker and rattan sofa to be exact.
Our house is fully furnished, but the living room furniture is small and not very comfortable. The hammocks are great, but sometimes you just want to stretch out on the sofa and read a good book. Except that we do not have a sofa.
We have two tiny, straight-back, love seats with small wood arms.
The wicker furniture is custom made to order. There are no showrooms. You choose a weaver, explain (or show a picture of) what you want, then go home and wait for your furniture to be made. It takes about four to eight weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the design. They will deliver the furniture to you when it is ready or you can go back and pick it up. In some cases you can get lucky and a shop might have a couple of pieces that were already made and never bought. You could go home that day with a beautiful piece of furniture. I will let you know how this adventure turns out for us.
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| From Jacksonville to Miami to Ecuador |
We brought cats. Four cats, 200 pounds of checked luggage, a laptop, a small carry on suitcase containing our certified, notarized documented life; and us.
There are some personal items I wish we had. I really miss all my boxes of photos.
I wish I had all of my art supplies and my cameras. Jason wishes he had all his music gear. But we made the choice to give those things up (not the photos, they are in storage), and start a new life with minimal stuff.
Little by little we will buy those things that are really important to us.
So, what to bring? That is entirely up to you.
Questions? E-mail us!
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